Australia confirms $350m for new large solar projects

Up to 10 new large-scale solar farms will be built across Australia after $350 million in grants and funding was announced on Wednesday by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

The move is aimed at bringing reducing the costs of large-scale solar and has been described as “transformative” for solar power in Australia.

ARENA has pledged $100 million as part of the progremme, with grants of up to $30 million grants available to major solar PV project firms.

Projects are required to have a minimum generation capacity of 5 megawatts, with the target of supporting the development of a further 200MW of capacity across Australia.

ARENA chief executive Ivor Frischknecht said: “Australia has huge natural advantages in this area: more sun than almost anywhere else and a solar R&D sector that is the envy of the world… The funding round is about unlocking that capability to deploy large-scale solar farms across the nation. This will drive further innovation in the sector and create efficiencies in Australia’s solar PV supply chains.”

The CEFC announced a $250 million large-scale solar financing initiative which will support projects with loans of over $15 million.

CEFC chief executive Oliver Yates said the new wave of investment is “transformative for the deployment of large-scale solar in Australia… When fully deployed, the CEFC finance will be the single largest debt financing commitment to the Australian large-scale solar sector,” he said.

Yates added: “By working closely with ARENA, and investing alongside private sector co-investors to bridge the financing gap for projects that make commercial sense, we’re seeking to build Australia’s expertise in solar and bring down development costs.”